The Philippines logged 95.8 million social media users and 98 million Internet users in the newest country-level digital report, underlining the market’s size as generative AI reshapes how people globally seek information and find brands.
The data appears in the Digital 2026 Philippines report by We Are Social and Meltwater. It offers local context for the firms’ Digital 2027 global report, launched on Oct. 21.
Worldwide, monthly generative AI users climbed to 3.24 billion, or 38.9% of the global population, after a 57.2% rise in 12 months. Social media user identities reached 5.81 billion, or 69.9% of the world’s population. The global report also noted that traffic to the biggest websites has dropped as users move to social platforms, mobile apps, and AI-powered services.
The Digital 2026 Philippines report tallied 95.8 million social media user identities, equivalent to 81.9% of the country’s population. The figure grew by 10.3%, or nine million identities, from a year earlier.
Filipinos averaged 33 hours and 50 minutes weekly on social media, and 97.8% of Internet users connected through mobile phones, based on Meltwater’s country analysis.
Facebook stayed the top platform, with 94.9% of Filipino Internet users saying they use it. Messenger came next at 90.6%, then YouTube at 85%, TikTok at 82.2%, and Instagram at 71.2%.
The Philippines placed among countries with heavy generative AI use in the earlier edition of the global report. Digital 2026 data showed 42.4% of Filipinos aged 16 and up had used ChatGPT in the prior month, ranking the country sixth worldwide. That surpassed the global average of 26.5%, per the report released in October 2025.
Digital advertising made up $2.12 billion of the Philippines’ $3.53 billion in total advertising expenditure in 2025, per Digital 2026 Philippines data. Social media advertising spending hit an estimated $679 million, up 14.5% year on year, while influencer advertising spending increased 15% to $125 million.
Online shopping likewise grew. Roughly 23.5 million Filipinos bought consumer goods online, a 9.8% rise from the prior year. Yearly online consumer goods spending hit $14 billion, up 14.4%. Mobile devices made up 57.5% of e-commerce spending.
The Digital 2027 global report found a drop in traditional web usage alongside growing generative AI adoption. Meltwater reported web traffic fell 6.8% between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026, while time spent on the web slipped 11.2% over the past two years.
Still, search engines remain more widely used than AI platforms for brand research. Online adults are 74% more likely to say they visit search engines than AI platforms when researching brands, according to the global findings.
For Philippine businesses, the findings raise questions about staying visible as consumers move among search engines, social platforms, mobile apps, and AI-generated answers.